Mr. DAY. This, by the way, was taken on November 25, 1963.
Mr. BELIN. All right. What about 734?
Mr. DAY. That is another view of the same boxes shown in 733.
Mr. BELIN. In 734 you can also see this juncture of the south and east
walls of the sixth floor where you say the bag was found; is that
correct?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. I want to turn for the moment to 729. I notice that the
box on 729 appears to have a portion of it torn off and then replaced
again. Is this correct or not?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. I am going to hand you what has been marked as Commission
Exhibit 649 and ask you to state if you know what this is.
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir. This is a portion torn from the box shown in 729.
Mr. BELIN. While you are holding that I'm going to hand you Commission
Exhibit 648 and ask you to state if you know what this is.
Mr. DAY. That is the box shown in 729 at the center of the picture.
Mr. BELIN. Is that the box, 648, from which 649 was torn?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir; it is.
Mr. BELIN. Could you relate what transpired to cause 649 to be torn
from 648?
Mr. DAY. After I returned to the sixth floor of the Texas School
Book Depository after delivering the gun to my office, we processed
the boxes in that area, in the area of the window where the shooting
apparently occurred, with powder. This particular box was processed and
a palmprint, a legible palmprint, developed on the northwest corner of
the box, on the top of the box as it was sitting on the floor.
Mr. BELIN. Then what did you do when you developed this print?
Mr. DAY. I placed a piece of transparent tape, ordinary Scotch tape,
which we use for fingerprint work, over the developed palmprint.
Mr. BELIN. And then what did you do?
Mr. DAY. I tore the cardboard from the box that contained the palmprint.
Mr. BELIN. Then what did you do?
Mr. DAY. The box was left in its position, but the palmprint was taken
by me to the identification bureau.
Mr. BELIN. Did you make any identification of it?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir. Later that night when I had a chance to get
palmprints from Lee Harvey Oswald. I made a comparison with the
palmprint off of the box, your 729, and determined that the palmprint
on the box was made by the right palm of Lee Harvey Oswald.
Mr. BELIN. Did you make any identification on Exhibit 649 which would
indicate that this is the palmprint you took?
Mr. DAY. It has in my writing, "From top of box Oswald apparently sat
on to fire gun. Lieut. J. C. Day," and it is marked "right palm of
Oswald. Lieut. J. C. Day."
There is also an arrow indicating north and where the palmprint was
found. It further has Detective Studebaker's name on it, and he also
wrote on there, "From top of box subject sat on."
Mr. BELIN. Now, when was that placed on that exhibit, that writing of
yours, when was it placed on there?
Mr. DAY. It was placed on there November 22, 1963.
Mr. BELIN. Can you identify by any way Commission Exhibit 648?
Mr. DAY. This has my name "J. C. Day" written on it. It also has "R. L.
Studebaker" written on it. It has written in the corner in my writing,
"Southwest corner box 18 inches from wall."
Mr. BELIN. I also see the name "W. H. Shelley" written on there. Do you
know when this was put on?
Mr. DAY. W. H. Shelley is the assistant manager apparently of the Texas
School Book Depository.
Mr. BELIN. Did he put it on at the time you found the box?
Mr. DAY. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Do you know when that was placed on there?
Mr. DAY. That was placed there November 26. The box was not removed,
just the cardboard was removed on November 22--excuse me, November 25 I
should say that he put his name on there. I returned to the School Book
Depository on November 25 and collected this box.
Mr. McCLOY. Did he say southwest on that or southeast?
Mr. BELIN. I believe he said that he has here that the southwest corner
of the box is 18 inches from the wall.
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir; that being the south wall.
Mr. McCLOY. This is the southwest corner of the box he is talking about?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. That is what is written on Commission Exhibit 648.
Mr. McCLOY. It depends on where that box was. It is kind of a removable
direction, isn't it?
Mr. BELIN. I am going to hand you what has been marked Commission
Exhibit 641, Exhibit. 653, and Exhibit 654, and ask you to state if you
know what these are. I will start with 641 first.
Mr. DAY. 641 is a box found in front of the window, Texas School Book
Depository. Apparently the gun had rested across this. This is the top
box now of two that were sitting in the window.
Mr. McCLOY. At the sixth floor window from which the shots are alleged
to have been fired?
Mr. DAY. Where the gun was fired from.
Mr. BELIN. Does this box appear on Commission Exhibit 715?
Mr. DAY. No, sir; this does not show.
Mr. BELIN. In other words, what you are saying is that the box, 641, is
not the box which is shown in the window on 715?
Mr. DAY. That is correct.
Mr. BELIN. Taking a look now at the box No. 653, I want to ask you to
state if you know what this is.
Mr. DAY. This is the box that is shown on 715, that is in the window.
Mr. BELIN. Does it have any means of identification?
Mr. DAY. It has my name "J. C. Day," also "R. L. Studebaker" marked
"Box B."
Mr. BELIN. I see you have a notation about the top, which appears to be
reading on the side of the box. What does that mean?
Mr. DAY. That is the top of the box as it was sitting in the window
sill, on the window sill.
Mr. BELIN. I see you have an arrow with the arrow pointing to the north.
Placing the box on the table here with the arrow pointing in a north
direction, it would appear the box is lying on its side, is that
correct?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Is that the way you found it in the window before you moved
it?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Is that the way it is shown on 715?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Is there any kind of a mark to show what the contents of
this box were?